Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Octopus Pencil Holder

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Octopus Pencil Holder

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

This book will cover the very basic but essential techniques you need to model an organic and functional object for 3D printing using Blender. Starting with pen and paper and then moving on to the computer, you will create your first project in Blender, add basic geometric shapes, and use techniques such as extruding and subdividing to transform these shapes into complex meshes. You will learn how modifiers can automatically refine the shape further and combine multiple shapes into a single 3D printable model. By the end of the book, you will have gained enough practical hands-on experience to be able to create a 3D printable object of your choice, which in this case is a 3D print-ready octopus pencil holder.
Table of Contents (10 chapters)

Chapter 3. The Octopus Pencil Holder

3D printing makes it easy to combine form and function. Why have just a pencil holder when you can have a pencil holder that looks like, say, a cute octopus? This project is an excellent starting project because it demonstrates a simple but versatile modeling technique that involves editing a simple mesh and smoothing it to create more detail.

This project will involve simple selection techniques unique to Edit mode, modification commands in Edit mode, and applying modifiers to soften and combine shapes. This technique alone can be used to make an unlimited number of cool things once mastered.

In this chapter, we will cover:

  • Planning the project

  • The first basic shape

  • Smoothing the mesh with modifiers

  • Bending the tentacles

  • Flattening the bottom

  • Renaming objects

  • Adding a pencil cup

  • Adding a face

  • Finishing touches